02-12-2016, 11:17 AM
(02-12-2016, 07:03 AM)antiochus Wrote: Papyrus records believed to belong to the field army of Maximian’s expedition of 298 AD describe a vexillation consisting of two cohorts. (CIL (08 08440 Sitifis), AE 1972 (00710 Mauretania Caesariensis Sitifis)
Those two are inscriptions, not papyri - one a tombstone, the other a dedication to an altar of Mithras. The papyri you're thinking of are probably the ones from Egypt, and seem to relate to Galerius's expedition of 293; they mention detachments of paired legions, each detachment commanded by a praepositus. Possibly the detachments consisted on a cohort from each legion, but we don't know that. It might be important that these references date from the period of the tetrarchic army, which may have operated slightly differently to earlier models.
There is very little evidence for the size of vexillations under the Principiate. This might mean that vexillations were a standard size, and so needed no further description, or that they were of any size and the word alone conveyed nothing.
Hadrian, in his speech to the men of III Augusta at Lambaesis, mentions a single cohort of the legion detached to Africa Proconsularis, and another detachment sent to reinforce a different third legion: the latter is specifically stated as comprising a single cohort and four men from each of the other centuries of the legion (ILS 2487)
Meanwhile, the inscription to Pontius Sabinus (CIL 10, 5829) mentions 'vexillations comprising three thousand men of the legions VII Gemina, VIII Augusta and XXII Primigenia [sent] on the expedition to Britain'. This might mean that each legion contributed a thousand men, which would suggest two cohorts each. However, we should bear in mind the Hadrianic evidence above, and consider that vexillations may have been put together in different ways, or have consisted of differing numbers.
This paper might be interesting:
Tully - Did Centurions Lead Detachments of their Legions in Wartime?
Nathan Ross
